The House Armed Services Committee has just voted 55 to 2 to approve a bipartisan bill (H.R. 3087) that pushes the Defense Department to develop a redeployment strategy for the US military in Iraq. “Congressional oversight is essential to ensure that effective and comprehensive redeployment planning is underway and that the best possible protection is provided for our men and women in uniform,” said Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) The bill requires that the Secretary of Defense submit a report on redeployment planning 60 days after its enactment, and that he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman brief the Congressional Defense Committees about the plan. The committee also wants 90-day updates. The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to hold a hearing Thursday to discuss Pentagon planning efforts, following a tiff between committee member Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Pentagon policy chief Eric Edelman, who criticized her attempts to determine the state of such planning. The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent an apologetic letter to Clinton last week.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.